


everyone has nightmares

by let_them_be_happy



Series: to the ones that didn't last the night [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everyone has Nightmares, Gen, huge fluff that completely ignores Civil War because they deserve to be happy, that's it that's the plot right there, this results in a huge sleepover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 15:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7939375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/let_them_be_happy/pseuds/let_them_be_happy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha can’t breathe, her chest is too tight, there’s something weighing her down and she’s falling, falling too fast, there’s nothing to grab onto, there’s men in masks and a gun in her hand and oh God that’s baby Nathaniel she’s pointing her gun at and - </p><p>-</p><p>there's canon and then there are the bits and pieces of it i ignore because everyone decides to be happy</p>
            </blockquote>





	everyone has nightmares

Natasha can’t breathe, her chest is too tight, there’s something weighing her down and she’s falling, falling too fast, there’s nothing to grab onto, there’s men in masks and a gun in her hand and _oh God that’s baby Nathaniel she’s pointing her gun at and_ -

Natasha wakes up sweating, her hair sticking to her forehead and the back of her neck. She’s alone in her room in the New Avengers Facility, and it’s one in the morning. Her chest is still heaving, her heart beating too fast, her breathing too irregular for this to be normal. She knows that she can’t go back to sleep, not with those dreams waiting for her under the slip of unconsciousness.

So she gets out of her too-warm bed and pulls a robe around her shoulders. She’s pretty sure it’s actually Steve’s or Sam’s or Tony’s or someone else’s because it’s too big for her but it is comfy as hell, so she’s kept it. No one’s said anything to her, so she assumes that they don’t miss it too much.

Natasha walks out of her room, her feet warm and complaining against the cool stone of the hallway floor. She knows it’s impractical, but she’s always preferred carpeted floors for living areas, like bedrooms as opposed to harder floors (which are easier for stealth). She thinks it has something to do with her stolen childhood, but she also thinks she’ll never know the answer to that.

She doesn’t plan a direction, just keeps walking until she thinks that she’s okay enough to stay awake for a while longer, until the last traces of the nightmares have banished themselves from her awake mind. It’s no great shock to her when she arrives outside of Tony’s lab, the billionaire fiddling with something behind glass walls.

Natasha guesses that it was one of those nights for him too.

She doesn’t knock or let Tony know that she’s there at all before she opens the door and walks into the lab. Tony glances up once to see who it is, but doesn’t say anything, returning to his project in silence. The bags under his eyes give away the fact that he’s already been up for a few hours.

She pads across the room, grabbing a chair before she walks back to the table that Tony’s working at, the billionaire working on something physical for once. Normally, whenever Tony works on something physical, it has to do with one of his cars, but tonight, it looks like he’s working on that arm that Tony swore up and down that he wasn’t going to make Bucky. A half-smile slides onto Natasha’s face as she curls up onto the chair, sitting right next to where Tony’s working on the table. It’s an unspoken agreement on nights like this that neither of them are gonna push the other, lest they do something to bring the nightmares back.

It’s with a surprised look in her eyes that she turns to look at the door, feeling eyes on the two of them inside. Even more surprising is that it’s Wanda Maximoff standing at the doors, looking just as haunted as Natasha and Tony. The two of them exchange glances, just to make sure that they aren’t hallucinating. It’s no secret anymore, the grudge that the Maximoffs hold against Tony for their parents’ death and the essential destruction of their lives. And, though no one outside of them knows it, it’s an open secret in the Avengers how much Wanda’s dreams affected them.

Which makes it strange that Wanda would end up at Tony’s lab after having a nightmare that’s clearly shaken her. And from the look of things, this isn’t the first night that Wanda’s nightmares are keeping her awake.

Wanda stands there awkwardly, just outside the doors of Tony’s lab. Even if Natasha weren’t a highly trained spy, she’s pretty sure she’d notice Wanda’s hesitation, like she’s certain that Natasha and Tony are gonna turn her away. So, Natasha and Tony look at each other again, a silent conversation using looks alone.

The surprise on Wanda’s face is strange to them, when Natasha moves to go get another chair and Tony walks to the lab’s doors, opening them from inside. They’ve all acknowledged how much Wanda’s dreams hurt them and shook them, though it’s clearly gone over the Maximoffs heads that the rest of the Avengers are trying to move past it.

Wanda follows Tony into the lab, her eyes flicking around like she’s expecting something to attack her. She flinches when Tony puts a blanket around her shoulders, not having noticed him move to get it. She may have been a part of the Avengers for a few months now, but that doesn’t mean that her defenses go down often. Tony doesn’t take offense from it - he’s too worn out to antagonize her and besides, she came to him for comfort. He’s not gonna say something to break that faith. It’s taken some time, but he has realized that his weapons have ruined lives and he doesn’t want to screw up one opportunity to at least try to be nice about it.

Natasha gestures for Wanda to sit down in the chair beside her, holding her arms out to the young woman. Tony’s moved back to his tinkering, and Wanda looks between the two of them for a few moments, not quite believing what she’s seeing. She’s never considered either Tony or Natasha to be the parental kind, but given the way they’re taking care of her, Wanda starts to think that she’s still got a lot to learn about her teammates.

Wanda opens her mouth to say something, but Natasha just shakes her head. It’s then that Wanda begins to understand this thing that Natasha and Tony do - finding some sort of comfort in the quiet of each other’s presence. They don’t speak to each other, doing that would mean admitting that they need something. Wanda doesn’t know how she understands this, she just does. So she accepts Natasha’s offer, settling herself down onto the chair by the older woman’s side and letting her wrap her arms around Wanda. Hesitantly, she leans her head onto Natasha’s shoulder, freezing instantly when she feels Natasha adjusting to make Wanda more comfortable. Wanda shifts her head just slightly, allowing herself to accept the sudden bizarreness of her current situation.

Natasha rests her head on top of Wanda’s gently, finding peace in the quiet clinking of metal against metal of Tony’s tinkering. She knows that there’s no more sleep to be found for her tonight, but she thinks she’ll be able to convince Wanda to go back to bed - maybe even Tony, if she’s lucky.

The three of them sit there in silence for a long time, not willing to say anything to break the peace. Natasha listens to Wanda’s breathing as it slows and evens out. Before either she or Tony realizes it, Wanda’s fallen back asleep, leaning on Natasha’s shoulder. Tony’s eyes go a little wider when he realizes that Wanda’s asleep on one of the most dangerous assassins in the world and in the presence of the man who made the weapon that killed her parents. He catches Natasha’s eye, looking a little panicked at the thought of making any sort of sound now that Wanda’s gone back to sleep.

Natasha carefully shrugs one shoulder, the one that Wanda’s head isn’t currently leaning on, somewhat understanding how Wanda managed to fall asleep. Wanda had looked exhausted and whatever her nightmare was about seemed like it couldn’t be solved with words of comfort. If it took the security that only a trained killer could offer, so be it. Natasha gestures, with her head and with one of her hands, for Tony to come over and take Wanda from her place on Natasha’s side. Tony’s wide-eyed look doesn’t change, the billionaire standing there like a deer in the headlights. Natasha frowns at him then, gesturing again for him to come and take Wanda so that they can all move somewhere more comfortable.

Finally, Tony moves, walking towards Natasha slowly and cautiously, painfully aware of any and all sounds he could make and is currently making. Using the same slow and cautious movements, Tony and Natasha manage to maneuver Wanda into Tony’s arms and completely off of Natasha. She gestures for Tony to follow her then, moving towards the lab’s doors. They start to walk out of the lab, both freezing when they hear Wanda let out a sound in her sleep. Tony looks down at Wanda, making sure that she was still asleep, only to find her grabbing onto his shirt in his sleep, like a child would to their parent. Once they’re certain that Wanda isn’t going to wake up, they let out twin sighs of relief, continuing down the hallway.

When they do stop again, they’re in the lounge. There’s a warm glow coming from the kitchen, someone else clearly having trouble sleeping as well. If this keeps up, Natasha thinks that they’re about to have a group sleepover in the middle of the lounge. She’s not wrong, when she looks into the kitchen and sees Steve and Pietro sitting at the table.

They look up at her, the sound of her footfalls on the linoleum alerting them to her presence before they see her. It’s obvious the two of them have been having some sort of silent comfort-fest themselves if the mugs of hot chocolate in their hands are anything to go by. She holds her hands out to them, a silent invitation to join her. Natasha thinks that Steve will, at least, trusting her judgement no matter what might be waiting for him in the lounge.

He does, of course, leaving Pietro sitting at the table, hesitating on the edge of the question as to whether he’ll be welcome at whatever it is Natasha’s inviting them to. Steve puts a hand on Pietro’s shoulder, a silent gesture of comfort that he’s welcome if he decides to come or not, that they won’t judge him for whatever he chooses. Natasha absentmindedly thinks that, when Pietro nods, agrees to whatever Steve and Natasha are doing, she’s never seen Pietro look that vulnerable before.

Pietro relaxes some into Steve’s hand on his shoulder as the three of them walk out into the lounge and Pietro catches sight of Wanda in Tony’s arms. He starts for a moment, almost moving to his sister, but deciding that she’s safe enough in Tony’s arms. Natasha, Tony, and Steve all exchange glances at that, Pietro’s obvious display of trust speaking to how far he and Wanda have come from when they first met.

Before Natasha realizes it, _all_ of the Avengers are in the lounge, settling down onto the floor, now covered with various blankets and pillows. Tony’s put Wanda down by this point, laying her down by Pietro because he’s worried that if he continues to carry her he’s gonna hurt her in some way. Bruce is huddled under a swath of blankets, hoping that no one will notice him there, but Tony clearly does, and the billionaire drags Pepper with him. The two of them settle right next to Bruce, politely ignoring the stunned look on his face as they do.

Sam’s already asleep again on the couch, looking like he’s been sleeping there all night even though Natasha knows he wasn’t there five minutes ago. Steve pokes Sam’s arm and Sam waves him away, attempting to bury himself further into the couch. Bucky’s appeared too, surrounded by a mass of blankets and pillows that leaves Natasha wondering if there are any left in the Facility’s linen closets. Steve almost wanders over aimlessly, plopping onto the mass just beside Bucky and disturbing the pile just enough to shift Bucky slightly. Natasha sees the quick flash of a grin on Bucky’s face before Steve even realizes that Bucky’s awake, and she deems it totally worth Steve’s anger for his reaction when Bucky sticks his metal arm on Steve’s leg, the metal no doubt far colder than Steve’s body.

It’s nice, she thinks, missing Clint and considering how much Tony must be missing Rhodey no matter how many friends he makes. Natasha sees Vision wander in, though it’s not so much as wandering as following she corrects herself. She holds in a laugh, aware of the quiet necessary for those who’ve already gone back to sleep, at the thought of how Thor would react if he arrived at the Facility right then and there.

She settles somewhere in the mass of pillows and blankets on the floor, not quite ready to go back to sleep just yet. Natasha looks around and wonders how all of this happened, not sure she wants to know the answer. It speaks to how comfortable she is that she doesn’t flinch when Vision rests a hand on her shoulder, the synthezoid leaning over to reach her comfortably. When she looks up to meet his eyes, Natasha realizes that Vision’s telling her to go to sleep, that he’ll watch over them.

Natasha’s not sure when she started trusting these people to watch her back, but she does as Vision tells her. She lays down, pulling a blanket up to her shoulders to keep the heat in and grabbing a nearby pillow to stick under her head. (She steals it from Steve and James’s pile, one of the ones underneath James’s feet. He half-heartedly kicks at her, too comfortable to really do anything about it or even glare at her.)

She thinks about the domesticity of it all, and she smiles. Natasha’s breaths even out, and she falls back into a dreamless sleep, temporarily safe in the company of her friends.

**Author's Note:**

> and this is the end. hope you enjoyed my little snippets of happiness and occasional angst


End file.
